Steel balls – Wikipedia

THE steel balls vulnerable, also said Martial globuli or « Steel Vulnear Ball », Nancy balls , “Real Mars vulnerary ball” , or “Tartarized steel ball” were a drug generally prepared with potash tartrate (cited as tartar in recipes) and iron tartrate.

Its name comes from its iron content and its generally black ball shape. This ball was equipped with a small loop (ribbon or cord) to allow its vertical suspension. There were different ways of ingesting it, but the most frequent was its partial dissolution in water, or brandy.
We then obtained “ball water”.

They are called frequently Nancy balls , because they were mainly manufactured in this city, due to the quality of Lorraine iron, and an important local tradition.

The uses of water extracted from these “steel balls” are varied: the notices of the time evoke

“Wounds, cuts, bruises, hemorrhages, migraines, colic, fluxions, dislocations, pleurisies, sciatica, rheumatism, breast hardness, mother or vapors, loss of blood, pale colors, extraction of thorns (in some parts of the body Whether), weakening of the stomach, languids of secretions, obstructions of the liver, the spleen, the gland of the mesentery, hypochondriac, “Histerical”, spray, suppression or slowness of the menstrual flow, chronic diseases of the lungs, Phtisis (without hemorrhage or continuous slow fevers), suppuration of the kidneys, gravel, gout, long -term fever, inflammation of the throat, language, ophthalmia, recent wounds, bruises, sprains, sprains, fractures. »»

This ball was also used in veterinary medicine.

For injuries,

“You have to take fountain water, have it cool down on a plate of earth, in which the ball will be driven until it is black, add half of water for lights, a Third party only when you want to drink it … then … Basse the wound without allowing the compress to dry, moving it from time to time, so that it is always warm, and go to the side opposite to evil, let the compresses 48 hours without lifting it; It should not be surprised if the wound pours blood, it is a natural effect of the ball from cleaning it to prevent suppuration, which accelerates healing; You can also have a half glass of ball water for the patient, and in little he will be healed; For bruises, bruises, etc., it is necessary to use the same, by studying the painful place well. For frostbite, it is necessary to make such a quantity of ball water that the frozen part can dip around half an hour, for a week and observe that it is always lukewarm. »»

For “interior diseases” as “Fever, blood loss, etc., it is necessary to drink either in red or white wine, broth, tea or vulnerary, depending on the patient’s taste, add to it if you want a little sugar, or do it as below above with two thirds of water and a third of brandy; For migraine, it is necessary to draw by the born 5 to 6 drops; For teeth and ears, it is necessary to soak slightly cotton in ball water, put in the ear or on the tooth, hold the sick part warmly; For color blades, you have to drink 7 or 8 days morning and evening a drink in good white wine and not eat raw vegetables. »»

The first steel balls seem to have been made in Nancy according to a secret or little disseminated recipe, in particular by Claude-Charles Guoery, concierge of the Hôtel-de-Ville de Nancy.
This remedy was mentioned in 1725 in the pharmacopoeia of Strasbourg ^{[ first ]} and shortly after (1732) in that of Paris ^{[ 2 ]} .
According to the chemistry course of Father Lenglet du Fresnoy (reissue of 1751 ^{[ 3 ]} , unsure document because this abbot seems to have copied old -style old -fashioned texts and was imprisoned, the mars ball was produced by drying a substance obtained by digestion of steel and tartar in an infusion of Vulnerary of Swiss in brandy ^{[ 4 ]} ; Lenglet Dudresnoy said he was holding this composition of a “chymist” by Duke Léopold de Lorraine who would have given it in 1712.
A more credible recipe is given by the pharmacist François Mandel (of the College of Medicine, the Masters Surgeons and the Apothecary Masters of Nancy). According to him, the Limaille and the Tartar had to be digested twice with water and the third time with aromatic alcohol obtained by distilling an alcoholic infusion of vulnerable species ^{[ 5 ] , [ 6 ] , [ 4 ]} .

Much later (in 1828), Guibourt published a more precise recipe ^{[ 7 ]} : According to him, the filings must first be treated by a decoction of vulnear species (around twenty plants) which gives a liquid which must be evaporated. Then reduced to powder and added with tartar, the mixture is once again digested by a new decoction of plants, for a month. The product is once again dried and sprayed, and we will again add tartar then retreating everything by a third decoction in order to form a paste (by hot evaporation) which is compressed in the hands and in molds in the shape of ball or egg before driving them. The material is black and hard and evokes an iron ball. She’s at XIX ^{It is} A century generally marked with a Lorraine cross and garnished with a loop or a ribbon which will facilitate its manipulation and drying between two jobs.

Molsheim’s ball [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

It is an apparently close medicine whose formula has never been published in an official pharmacopoeia, but which according to an article by the pharmacist Rol de Mirecourt (in the Pharmacy Bulletin of 1811) uses Nancy ball to which we add (for 2 pounds of dough) 3 ounces of putty, as many oliban and an ounce of myrrh ^{[ 8 ]} .

The mineral ball of the Chartreuse of Molsheim [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The recipe for the Molsheim ball will be transmitted – from 1826 to the Grande Chartreuse and beyond from 1903 in Villard, pharmacist of Grenoble who produced it until 1920. According to their notice contained in addition to the iron of precious gums.

Mars ball will be integrated into the French pharmacopoeia of XX ^{It is} century until 1972, before falling into disuse in the face of new iron complexants more effective than tartrate (citrate and gluconate in particular)

Copies of Nancy balls are kept in the collections of the Lorraine Museum in Nancy, the Museum of the Faculty of Medicine of Nancy, of the Museum of Iron History in Jarville, at the Dauphinois Museum in Grenoble, at the Museum of the Faculty of Pharmacy of Montpellier 1 University in Montpellier, to the order of pharmacists in Paris, at the apothecary of the Bazas Hospital and in various private collections and pharmacies.

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Bibliography [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

: document used as a source for writing this article.

• Mandel (1805), Instruction on the virtues of the Nancy steel ball of Sr Mandel, the cures carried out by this specific, and the means of using it, published by itself ; S.L. (Nancy), 77 p. (Nancy municipal library, rating Favier 8644 ).
• Mandel D (1805) Instruction on the virtues of the Nancy steel ball, or Sieur Mandel,… Publ. by himself ; S.L. (Nancy); Nancy municipal library, rating 802137 ).
• Martin J (1995) «  Vulnear steel balls formulas », Pharmacy History Review , XLII, n ^O 305, 2 ^{It is} trim., , p. 196–200 .
• Martin J (1995), Vulnear steel balls, Nancy balls, Molsheim balls and the mineral balls of the Chartreux ; Nancy, 330 p. (Nancy municipal library, rating 52 297 ); Book crowned by the National Academy of Metz (Sciences).
• Martin J (2007) Vulnear steel balls, Nancy balls, Molsheim balls and the mineral balls of the Chartreux , Revue, corrected and increased publication; Nancy, 297 p. (Nancy municipal library, rating 52 297 A ). This work, a real sum, is the only reference on the subject.
• Keller-Didier C (2008) “Vulnear steel balls, called Nancy balls”, Lorraine botany , review published by the Association of Friends of Conservatory and Botanical Gardens of Nancy, (ISSN  0981-3519 ) , n ^O 13, p. 17–30 .
• Grégory Oswald, ‘ The medicinal balls of the Chartreux de Molsheim » , on Molsheim and surrounding history and archeology society (consulted the December 25, 2022 ) .

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